Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere believes England are ready to face Wales in Lens
England’s Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere has told euro2016.com that England’s performance against Russia was ‘brilliant’ and that despite the disappointment of not winning the game, the Three Lions are ready to face Wales.
England dominated proceedings in their Euro 2016 opener against the Russians in Marseille, and despite spurring numerous chances, with Rooney, Alli and Sterling all denied by Russian stopper Igor Akinfeev, they finally took the lead when Eric Dier fired home a 20 yard free-kick.
Yet England were not able to see the game out, as Russia captain Vasili Berezutski salvaged the most unlikely of points for his side, a huge kick in the teeth for Roy Hodgson’s side.
Jack Wilshere says England are ready for Wales
And Wilshere, who was brought on to replace the imperious Wayne Rooney in midfield, believes that England have plenty of positives to take from the game, and they will have no problems against Wales if they can maintain the same level of performance.
“We’re in a good place,” Wilshere told euro2016.com.
“Naturally, if you dominate a game like that and don’t win it, you’re going to be disappointed, but after sleeping on it and looking back on the performance we’re happy.
England’s Jack Wilshere came on as a substitute to replace Wayne Rooney
“We played well, we moved the ball around and kept the ball. In the past England teams have been accused of not being technically good enough, of not keeping the ball, and we showed that we are good enough.
“We just need to maintain our standards that we’re setting. Against Russia, of course, we need to look at the goal and analyse what went wrong there, but apart from that the performance was brilliant.
Wilshere was a controversial selection for the England squad for this summer’s European Championships in France.
He had endured an injury hit campaign for Arsenal, one that spiralled from a broken fibula in August to requiring surgery that would not see a return to action until April, where he managed to feature for the Gunners’ under 21 side against Newcastle.
Wilshere has worked his way back to full fitness
And despite playing a limited role for Arsenal in their ill-fated title pursuit, Wilshere still did enough to convince Roy Hodgson that he deserved a call-up.
England face Wales in their second fixture of the group stage on Thursday.
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